Shamanic designs used by painter and archaeologist Nicholas Roerich on the costumes for the original Rite of Spring (1913) apparently shaped the ground patterns of the choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky. Dance detectives Kenneth Archer and Millicent Hodson demonstrate how they discovered these dance and design correspondences in the course of reconstructing the lost Rite for the Joffrey Ballet in 1987 and for other companies worldwide since that time.

SACRE 1913

Shamanic Sources & Ultramodern Forms

References

1

Kenneth Archer“Nicholas Roerich And His Theatrical Designs: A Research Survey,”Dance Research Journal18/2 (Winter 1985-1986) pp. 3-6. The article includes a reproduction of the original design from 1913.

View in galleryBird of power motif on the sleeve of the Young People’s smock (Kenneth Archer, Reconstruction Costume Dossier for Le Sacre du Printemps, 1987).

View in galleryNicholas Roerich’s initials for his first name and patronymic among the motifs on the smock for the Young Women in Blue. Kenneth Archer, Reconstruction Costume Dossier for Le Sacre du Printemps, 1987).

Roundel motif on the chest of the smock for the Maidens in Red (Kenneth Archer, Reconstruction Costume Dossier for Le Sacre du Printemps, 1987).

Nicholas Roerich’s initials for his first name and patronymic among the motifs on the smock for the Young Women in Blue. Kenneth Archer, Reconstruction Costume Dossier for Le Sacre du Printemps, 1987).